Mobile network market to buck economic downturn: report

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 12 November 2008 07:53

IT Industry - Market

Recent reports have suggested that the mobile market will suffer under the coming global economic superstorm. However, a new report out of the US suggests otherwise and that the saviour will be the fresh blood of the global economy.

Despite the current global economic downturn, the number of mobile network subscribers worldwide will continue to grow at a rate of nearly 8% annually through 2013, with 90% of that growth coming from emerging economies, according to a new report from Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com).

Mobile Subscriber & Revenue Forecast 2008-2013: Emerging Market Opportunities delivers a five-year worldwide forecast for mobile network subscribers, including market penetration rates by region and service revenues by region.

"Worldwide mobile subscriptions will grow from 4.0 billion this year to 5.85 billion in 2013, for a compound average growth rate of nearly 8%," says Leslie Arathoon, Vice President of Research at Pyramid Research and co-author of the report.

"About 90% of the new subscriptions will come from emerging markets."

According to the report, Asia-Pacific, already the world's biggest market for mobile services by subscriber count, will continue to be the top region for mobile subscriber growth, while Africa and the Middle East will surpass other regions to become the second-largest mobile market by subscriber count by 2013.

Other key findings of Mobile Subscriber & Revenue Forecast 2008-2013: Emerging Market Opportunities include the following:

    * Between 2008 and 2013, the number of mobile subscriptions will increase from 4bn to 5.85bn, at a compound annual growth rate of 7.9%. Africa and the Middle East as well as Asia will account for the biggest subscriber gains, while Europe will see its share of the global subscription base shrink.

    * By 2013, global mobile subscription penetration will top 83%, compared with an expected 60% penetration rate at year-end 2008.

    * The global market for mobile voice and data communications services will be worth US$908bn in 2008. We expect market revenue to grow at a CAGR of 6.0% over the next five years to reach $1.2 trillion by 2013.